Èanna 14
by AnnKa
Summary: This is my part of the series that I wrote when Paget announced she was leaving. It has three parts and a follow up that will be posted in here. Shortly before Emily gets reassigned they get called on a new case and Derek and her end up going undercover with a little girl.
1. Èanna

I'm working on a sequence of stories that belong together but still stand for themselves.

Thanks to REIDFANATIC for Beta Reading.

Criminal Minds is not mine.

Èanna

May was almost over and Emily had her paperwork all ready. Her new position would be in the same building so she could still visit with her friends. The only thing she was a little worried about was telling them. So far she had talked to JJ and Hotch but had both of their words that she would announce it herself when the time came. Her situation with Morgan had not really improved. They worked as a team, acting on autopilot while on a case, but their conversations were strictly on the subject. Slowly she got the feeling that he had moved on and she was not going to blame him for it.

Much to her dislike they got called to a case only two hours from home just a few days before she was off the list of being called to a scene. The case itself, as well, was not going the way she wanted it to go. They had been called to try to solve the case surrounding five year old Èanna. The little girl's parents had died in a tragic car accident six months earlier and since then her life seemed to be a misery. Her first foster parents had been shot to death two months after taking the little girl into their home. The second set took it's time, before coming to the decision they would try to take care of the girl. A month later the Ericksons had been found dead as well. After that incident about ten sets of possible foster parents turned her down, as her case was opened to them. When they had finally found a couple, months later, the name of the little girl was changed, but nonetheless the Maxwell and Carissa Ashton disappeared only two weeks after taking Èanna home and were found dead a few days later with obvious marks of torture and abuse.

Emily had met the little girl the first day as she and JJ were sent to talk to her. The little brunette had been terrified with the constant changes in her live and the disappearance of all those she loved or started to open up to. She had barely talked at all but seemed to put a little more trust into Emily than into Jennifer and that had turned into a huge problem for the agent.

"It's the only chance we have." Aaron Hotchner knew that he was asking a lot from his two agents, although he had not expected that much of protest, since Derek and Emily were close friends and known to trust each other.

"You want us to play a married couple and force Èanna to lose another set of possible parents?" Derek looked at his boss in bewilderment. Nobody on the team knew about the two of them dating and they were certainly professional enough to not bring up their splitting. Until now that hadn't been a big problem, but he could see in Emily's face that she had no intention of playing a married couple with him.

"With the time between attacks becoming shorter, it shouldn't take longer than a week, maybe ten days." Reid commented.

"Can't JJ do it? She has more experience with children in this age." Emily ignored the genius completely trying to reason herself out of this situation.

"Èanna connected a lot more to you than to me and we need to make her feel safe." JJ pointed out and her colleague knew that she was right, but decided to still be mad at her friend for not helping her out. After all JJ knew what had happened between Derek and her, she had expected a little bit more of support.

"Plus you two are single, while it would be a little weird for JJ to play a couple with someone, with being married for just a week." Rossi's glance wandered between the two agents, wondering what had happened to the close friends and partners. Emily sighed quietly cursing herself for not keeping the dating a stranger story up or telling Hotch the real reason for her transfer.

"Did Strauss give her okay?" It was her last try and she could see in the confused looks on her teammates' faces that it hadn't been a good one. But the question was reasonable, if Strauss heard about this she would be furious and there was no need to make Morgan's job any harder than it already was.

"My authority is high enough to authorize this operation." Hotch said, getting slightly annoyed with the arguments. The only reason he could see was Emily's upcoming transfer, but it was almost two weeks until then and he did hope to be done with the case by then.

Derek threw a quick glance towards Emily, hoping for her approval, but she turned her gaze to the pictures of the crime scenes. "I want a word in the process of identity making." With that he stood up to call Garcia. If he couldn't stop this, he at least wanted it to be the least awkward for the two of them.

An hour later the team was off to a house a little bit off the area, so neighbors wouldn't be too involved as well as able to answer too many questions. While the team set up cameras around and inside the house, it was Derek's turn to fill in his new "wife" on her identity.

"We are Chad and Stephanie Anderson, ages are ours, moved here a year ago, but are often gone so neighbors don't know us. The house belongs to a family, who rents it out for vacations. Chad can't have children and that's why they decided to take foster children. With the issue of not being able to have children the couple has some marriage trouble and was seeing a psychologist about that."

"Marriage problems weren't in the profile." Emily remarked dryly.

"Yeah, but they really should. Couple number one was happy after a year of therapy to save their marriage. Couple number two was still having sessions and number three had neighbors reporting on fighting."

Emily nodded slowly; at least she didn't have to act like she was madly in love. Although saying that she wasn't in love with him, would push it as well, after all they hadn't separated because of their feelings, but because of their jobs. With that she headed outside, ignoring his sigh.

As the team was done with the set up, they left before Èanna would arrive. They suspected that the little girl was being watched and therefore they already risked enough to set up Emily and Derek for it. Of course the little girl was anything but fond to be shipped off to a new family. Tears were streaming down her little cheeks as the social worker walked her into the house. As soon as her hand was relieved she ran off to the door trying to get out.

"Èanna," the young woman was clearly out of patience with the girl, picking her up and carrying her into the living room. "I need one of you to sign the paperwork. I didn't expect that someone would be willing to take her after everything that happened." She threw a glance at the girl, who now sat on the couch sobbing. Emily, who was still ignoring her "husband" for the next week, slightly shook her head and walked to the couch.

"Can you take care of the paperwork, Chad?" A few weeks ago she would have used honey or some other kind of nickname, but she didn't really feel up for that. It would hurt too much. She kneeled down in front of the couch and smiled at the girl.

"Do you remember me sweetheart?" The girl nodded slightly, while her eyes filled with more tears. It was clearly going to take a while, before they would be able to get the little girl's trust. She studied the girl for a moment not sure where to start.

"What do you have there?" She finally asked pointing to a teddy the girl was pressing against her chest.

"My teddy."

"Does he have a name?"

"Mr. Peterson." Emily smiled, wondering where that name had come from.

"Can I say hello to Mr. Peterson?" She earned a judging look, before Èanna slowly turned the teddy, so the face was directed towards Emily.

"Hello Mr. Peterson, I'm Stephanie." She slowly stretched her hand to shake the teddy's paw. "Are you and Èanna good friends?"

The girl had the toy nod and Emily smiled softly. "Well Mr. Peterson, how about we go and show Èanna her new room?" She was relieved when the girl had it nod again and then slid from the couch. They made their way upstairs to a children's bedroom filled with all sorts of toys. Garcia had truly overachieved in this case.

The agent stayed in the room at first playing with the little girl, then just watching. Sometime during their play she had heard the door shut downstairs and a car drive off, indicating that the social worker had left.

"I'm downstairs if you need anything." She barely got a response from the playing child. She smiled and left the room to look for Morgan. Not that she was particularly fond of talking to him, but the situation required good communication.

"She is settled in. Garcia did really well on the toys." She said as she found him in the dining room studying the foster parent file.

"I told her to ignore the limits. If they want us to pull this off, they get to pay for it." He didn't look up, but kept staring at the pictures. "I can't believe that they really think having the girl in another family is going to do any good for her."

"At least she is safe with us."

"Yeah but nonetheless she is going to lose us as soon as she is safe and that is going to kill her."

For the first time he looked up meeting her gaze. All the unspoken things suddenly hung between them again and Emily couldn't help but remember what her mother had said. She still hadn't told anyone of her transfer plans, usually transfers weren't any good, until all the paperwork was signed and she didn't want to get his hopes up or risk his job.

"Derek, we should talk." She didn't know why this moment felt so right, but it did and she wanted to use it as long as it felt right. His eyes narrowed as she used his real name a clear indication that she was talking about their real relationship not the fake one they were pretending to have. He was about to say something when his phone went off. A short look at the caller ID and he gave her an apologetic glance.

"That's JJ."

She made a movement with her hand so he would answer it, before turning to go back upstairs.

"Dang her timing," she murmured under her breath, as she took two stairs at a time to get back to the second floor.

The day went by fast and soon it was time to bring Èanna to bed. Morgan watched his partner doing most of the work and was amazed by the routine she already had developed. Her time with Declan seemed to have established some kind of mother instinct. He couldn't believe that he was watching the same woman that had been worried about raising a child a few months ago. When she had gone through a story and her goodnights, she indicated that it was his turn. He slowly wandered over to the little bed, kneeling besides it.

The girl's eyes were already closing, so he didn't have to do much talking. He just sat there watching her fall asleep, before leaving the room as well.

"Goodnight Annie." He murmured under his breath.

When he entered the master bedroom, he found Emily already changed and climbed in one side of the bed. He grabbed his PJs and headed to the bathroom. As he came back, he only saw some of her hair, as she had snuggled under the covers. He took his spot in the bed, placing his gun in the nightstand, so he would be able to reach it any time. Derek laid down listening for the sound of her breathing as he had done so often before. He smiled as he realized that she wasn't really sleeping yet.

"You make a great mom." He softly whispered into the silence and although she didn't answer he knew that she had heard him.

"Stephanie?"

Derek had awoken out of his light sleep when he had heard the door move, but the small steps turned out to be their foster child's. He watched as she walked around the bed, stopping in front of Emily trying to wake her up with the soft calling. He felt the sleeping woman next to him stir. Apparently she still slept a lot deeper with him next to her. While they had been dating, they had found out that her sleep was deeper whenever they stayed at the same place. When she was alone she still had a rather light sleep, every so often accompanied by a nightmare. She finally sat up, ready to react, but then realized that it was only the little girl.

"Èanna, why are you not sleeping sweetheart?"

"Are you going to go away like all the other parents?" The little brunette's lips were trembling as she pressed Mr. Peterson against her chest. Emily resisted a sigh as she took in the scared expression on the little face. She didn't know what to answer, after all she was not going to stay with the girl longer than the case would allow. But at the same time did she see the girl's need for security.

"Come here." She held out her hands to pull Èanna into the bed next to her. "I'm not going anywhere."

Derek sighed as he heard the promise that she was not going to able to keep.


	2. Part 2

Part 2:

The next week went by quickly and slowly the icy tension between the former couple lessened. Morgan turned out to have a lot of fun with the little girl, developing an even stronger bond with her than Emily did. To any neighbor they met; they looked like the perfect little family.

When the first week was over, Emily became uneasy with the situation. She had to get back to Quantico for her transfer if she didn't want to risk losing it. Luckily her partner didn't ask for an explanation although he sensed the change. He just assumed that it was about the fact that the killer could show up anytime soon. Nonetheless, he decided to take the girls to the little lake close by. He didn't get the approval from Hotch, but what family sat at home all the time when the weather was fabulous like this. Besides, he was slowly starting to run out of ways to entertain Èanna in the house.

"You can't catch me." Emily raised her eyes from the book to the little girl and Derek running in a wide circle around her. A small smile crept on her lips as she watched. Only once before had she thought of him as a father and then it had been for a thirteen year old, who would rather have wanted him as a big brother. But the last couple of days Derek had taken over the role as foster dad and had the time of his life. By now she probably would have to worry more about his hurt feelings when they left the girl behind, although it wouldn't be easy for her either.

She looked back to her book trying to find the spot where she had left off.

"Stephanie, you should come join us." The tall man blocked of the sun from her, causing her to lose the spot again.

"Nah," she shook her head as she glanced at him, the little girl thrown over his shoulder giggling.

"But I want to show you how good I'm swimming now."

Emily could see the disappointment showing in the girl's face. She sighed and put her book down. As she stood up she shook off the sand from the beach dress she had gotten before they went for their trip to the lake.

"I can't miss that, can I?" She smiled at Èanna, following them down to the water. She was still not planning on joining them in the water, but she would at least be closer to comment. Indeed, the child had gotten pretty good under the instruction of her newest dad. Derek always waited a few feet away from her to catch up, finally she got tired and he caught her to take her back to the beach.

"Why are you still dry?" Derek asked with a smirk on his face. Emily turned to get farther away from the water, realizing what he was up to. But he was faster and crabbed her around her waist carrying her in a few steps, then throwing her into the water.

It took her a moment to fight herself back up. Her dress was soaking wet and now formfitting her body.

"Der…," she caught herself in time. "Chad, you are going to pay for this."

"Really?" He smirked at her, since there wasn't really anything she could do to him right now, as he was already wet.

"You wait and see." She still stood where she landed glaring at him.

"O come on, you are going to dry before we get home." He walked a few steps in offering her a hand to help her walk out. As soon as she grabbed it, he realized his mistake as she dragged him towards the water with all the strength she had. He saw her smirk disappear, when he reached out with his other hand to take her down as well. If she wanted war, she was going to get it.

He was the first one to make it back to the surface. Instantly checking with his eyes to find Èanna playing in the sand, he relaxed and turned to see where Emily was. His momentary check on the little girl had given her time to breathe and plan her next attack. Before he could do anything, she had her hands on his shoulders dragging him back down with her weight. It took him a moment to struggle and get free. Still under water he turned and then made his way back up. His hands were on her hips and their faces were dangerously close.

"Having fun after all, are you?"

"Never said I wasn't," she said with a raised eyebrow.

"Really?"

Their eyes met. It was like time stopped and she felt her heart speed up. They hadn't been this close since the night before Strauss had called them in. And the wet dress showing every curve of her body as well as his bare chest didn't help either. He raised one hand to softly pull a strand of her hair behind her ear. He didn't care much for the audience they had with the team and potentially the killer. If someone asked they could always say they had played the role. His heart was racing and he knew he was close to losing any kind of professionalism in the case. He was sure he read the same kind of feelings in her eyes so he grabbed one of her hands moving it up to his chest laying it down where she could feel his pounding heart.

"Derek…"

He raised his hand to her lips to stop her from talking. He knew how wrong this was and that this was exactly why Strauss had put a stop to their relationship. He quickly glanced to the beach making sure Èanna was still playing, before meeting her eyes again.

"I know." The words were very quiet as he leaned in to meet her lips. He could feel the hesitation in her movement, but only a few seconds later she seemed to have given up on her defense and he could feel her moving closer to him. For a short moment both of them completely lost themselves in the kiss.

"Stephanie!"

She jumped at the sound of the name, both of them immediately scanning the beach for trouble. Thankfully the little girl was just waving and pointing towards her sand castle. She threw a quick glance towards her partner before starting to walk out of the water. As she looked back she saw him disappear in the water.

"Sweetheart that looks great," she reached to her back to get rid of the wet dress. Her eyes soon found Derek's t-shirt as a good replacement to cover her scars from the little girl.

In the meanwhile Hotch and Rossi were exchanging looks at their position in the little restaurant serving the beach. They had both witnessed the kiss and certainly, being profilers, had only confirmed their suspicions that the kiss had gone way too deep.

"Now this explains a whole lot, if you ask me." Rossi took a sip of his coffee leaning back in his chair.

"It certainly explains why she wanted that transfer." Hotch noticed the raised eyebrow of his friend. "She handed it in a couple of weeks ago, saying something about more time with Declan."

"Well Declan might be one reason, but certainly not the only one."

"Did you know there was something going on between them?" The unit chief eyed his colleague, as he had noticed the closeness and subsequent tension, but had put it down to a close friendship.

"I know when it ended. Or should I say who ended it." Rossi had quickly put two and two together.

"What do you mean?"

"A couple of weeks ago Emily was called into Strauss' office. When she came back out she told Morgan to go in. She later disappeared, my guess to his office and I swear I saw tears on her face when she came back. After that it just wasn't the same between them, but neither would talk to any of the team about what happened."

"Well besides the tension they at least stayed professional."

"Professional is one thing, two broken hearts another." Rossi looked back towards the beach as he left Hotch to that thought. "Let's hope they use their chance when Emily is off the team."


	3. Part 3

Thank you so much for the reviews, followers and liking the story. I'm so glad you like the story and I hope to keep it up.  
For this part I became a little drama queen. It would just be boring if nothing bad ever happens. :)

Part 3:

He was not sure what had awoken him a few minutes ago. They all had been tired after their trip to the beach. Emily hadn't even tried to convince the little girl to stay in her own bed, but had just put her in theirs, before joining her a few hours later. His eyes slowly adjusted to the dark and wandered to his sleeping colleague and the little girl in her arms. For the tiniest moment his thoughts wandered back to the kiss they had shared, but he couldn't afford to drift off. He lay still, trying to hear the sound again that had woken him. He was about to relax again, when he heard a crushing sound that probably meant that someone had just destroyed one of the little girls toys that were spread all over the living room.

Morgan instantly reached for the gun in his nightstand. Emily next to him turned, looking at him alarmed. One look in his eyes told her that the sound that had woken her up was reason to be worried. She sat up reaching for her gun as well, loading it with determination in her eyes. She was about to hop out of bed, when he held her back.

"Prentiss, I need you to stay with Annie. We can't just leave her alone in here. And someone needs to call Hotch." She glared at him, showing him how unhappy she was with that plan. But the fact that he used his nickname for the little girl while using her last name showed her how serious he was.

"It never ended well when we split up, plus Hotch sees everything on the videos, they are probably already on their way."

"I tried the friendly suggestion; in this case this is an order."

"Morgan…" Her voice rose and she earned an unpleased look. She raised her hands as a gesture of surrender and reached for her phone. As suspected, the team was already on their way, but would take a little while to get to the house. She heard more sounds from downstairs. Obviously her partner had found the intruder. She glanced at the little girl who was still sleeping. She softly kissed her head, before leaving the bed against any of his instructions. It would take the team ten minutes at least to get here and he needed backup now. At first she made sure all the windows were locked, as well as there was nobody in the closet or under the bed. She then carefully opened the door and locked it behind her.

Having quickly checked all the rooms upstairs, Emily now made her way downstairs. She cleared the kitchen, before heading through the dining room towards the living room.

"FBI, drop the gun." She leaned against the wall next to the door, listening to Morgan's voice.

"Do you really think I'd fall for that? You should have stayed away from my niece and everything would be fine."

"Drop the gun."

"Or what? I have nothing to lose in case you haven't noticed."

Emily quietly moved to the other side of the door so she could glance through the small opening. She flinched as sounds started coming from upstairs. Apparently Èanna had woken up and was now trying to open the locked bedroom door. As she looked back the scene had changed, Derek had used the moment of distraction to throw himself towards the guy, but he was clearly not on the winning side. As he suffered from another hit, Emily decided that he needed another surprise moment. She opened the door more fully stepping in with her weapon raised.

"FBI, drop that gun."

The sound of the shot had reached her ears long before she felt the pain. She lost grip of her gun, which was falling to the ground, and was thrown against the wall behind her. She saw Derek looking up, panic in his eyes, but then he finally got a hold of the gun and hit it against the unsub's head knocking him out. She slowly sank down against the wall, as Morgan reached for his phone running over to where she was.

"I need an ambulance. Fast. We have an agent down." That was all what he barked into the phone, before putting his attention on Emily.

Her PJ shirt was turning red around her shoulder as the blood pressed through the wound.

"Can't you listen for once?" He lifted her up in his arms caring her to the couch.

"He nearly knocked you out."

"Well I still feel better than you look."

"I told you it never ends well when we split up." She reminded him quietly thinking of her last wound and nearly being blown up in the bank a few weeks ago. She felt his hand press against the wound to keep the blood in.

The lights and sirens indicated that help was close. She closed her eyes to keep her thoughts straight.

"Don't even think about dying on me again." She could hear the fear in his voice although he tried to hide it.

"Morgan, what happened?" Hotch appeared as soon as the front door was crashed out of its angles, while the team was securing the rooms and the unconscious guy on the floor.

"He was stronger than I thought; she tried to help and took the shot." That was about the shortest version he could think off and he was not going add to it right now.

"Èanna, someone has to get her." Emily mumbled fighting on staying conscious.

"JJ, check upstairs and get her out of here." Derek watched the blonde disappear with a few backup men, before turning back to the wounded agent. He had unconsciously grabbed her hand and he could feel her hanging onto him. This just felt too much like a year ago, when she had been lying in his arms. As the medics came running in, he softly squeezed her hand. He was not going to let go again. He watched the men work on her and then helped them lift her.

"I'm going with her." He announced and Hotch didn't try to stop him. He saw in the younger agent's expression that he would fight him on this issue.

She could sense the hectic motion around her. Her eyes felt too heavy to open them, so she didn't.

"Is she going to be okay?" She tried to recognize the voice, but her brain wasn't functioning properly. She was so tired of this mess. She couldn't afford to die now that she was taking care of Declan so why did she bring herself into trouble again and again? Declan! She tried to open her eyes, but the light seemed too bright. She felt herself being lifted up and laid down the next second. Then they seemed to move her again, soon she felt the soft breeze from the summer wind.

"Declan." She murmured trying desperately to open her eyes.

"I need you to stay calm." She didn't recognize the voice, but she could feel the needle pushing through her skin and soon she became even sleepier. As she was moved she could feel the tight crib on her hand and a small smile came on her lips, as she drifted off to the black world she seemed so familiar with.

The first thing she could sense was the hurt and soreness of her whole body. She groaned silently once again cursing the job she loved so much. She then felt the warmth around her hand tightening and she started fighting her heavy eyes curious to see who it was.

"Hi Princess."

"You didn't let go." It was half a question, half a statement, but he knew what she meant.

"Did that once. Although I got to admit that I did let go while you were in surgery. They wouldn't let me in any further than the observation room." She saw the small smirk on his face and softly shook her head.

"I had no intention of dying this time."

"See and I had no intention of letting you die."

She slowly freed her hand from his and tried to straighten herself up.

"Where is Annie?"

"Kids ward, she was in shock."

"I should have stayed with her." Guilt suddenly shrugged her. No matter what had seemed right a few hours ago, now it seemed terribly wrong.

"You kept her safe. And I already visited her, she wants to see you."

"Get her then."

"Emily." He cut himself off as he saw her stern look, trying to find a better way on how to approach her.

"I'll get her in a moment. First let me tell you what Hotch told me earlier." He waited for her to nod her okay, before going on. "The unsub was Èanna's uncle, the only living relative. He tried to get custody after his sister died, but didn't have the money or the social and criminal background to take care of a little girl. So he decided if he couldn't have her, nobody would. Apparently he was hoping if nobody would volunteer on taking her, his chances would rise again."

Emily sighed quietly at the realization why all those nice families had to die. It had Annie bound to be part of the system for the rest of her childhood.

"He also accused the first foster dad of abusing her, but there is no evidence for that."

She slowly nodded, before turning to him. Tiredness had come over her again, but that didn't change her mind, she wanted to see her little girl. He nodded giving her hand a last squeeze before leaving the room to head to the children's ward. She closed her eyes to get rid of the dizziness that had come up over the last few minutes. If there was one thing she wouldn't miss in her new job, then it was ending up in a hospital.

"Stephanie." Before she could open her eyes, she felt the girl climbing on the bed. Thankfully Morgan was fast enough to direct the little girl towards her unhurt arm. She smiled as she opened her eyes looking at the little girl with a mass of brown curls.

"Actually my name is Emily. I know that is confusing, but we had to play that game the last few days."

While the little girl stared at her with wide eyes, another pair of eyes rolled. Derek couldn't believe that his friend was taking this on a personal level now. She, out of all people, should know what it meant to mix real life with undercover jobs.

"Emily is shorter."

The agent laughed as she stroked the hair out of the little face. Sometime between fighting her dizziness and her painful shoulder she had made a decision that wouldn't please Derek.

"Emily, when are we going home?"

She saw out of the corner of her eye as Derek straightened up ready to reveal some kind of story.

"As soon as they let me out of here."

"Emily." His tone was warning but she ignored it.

"They probably keep me for a few more days, but maybe they can move your bed in here." She saw him shake his head as he got up and walked to the window.

"Yeah then we can play all day long." Annie didn't seem to notice the sudden tension between the adults, after all her world was perfectly fine, now that she knew she was going to go home soon.

The little girl then chatted on about her adventures in the hospital; she apparently had already found some friends and thought it was exciting to hear about all the different sicknesses, clearly not understanding how serious they were.

Finally a nurse came in to check on Emily. Derek used his chance on asking her to take Èanna back to her room while the new bed Emily had asked for was being set up. Both girls didn't look too happy with him, but it was his only chance on washing her head. As the door closed behind the nurse he walked back to her bed. The closeness that had been there when she had woken up was gone.

"What are you thinking Emily? She is attaching and the more she does the harder will it be to place her in a family."

She glared at him, not to fond with the way his voice had raised.

"Ever thought that I really can take her home?"

"Sure with your job you have a ton of time of raising a five year old. You barely have enough time for Declan." Her glare turned angry, pushing back the hurt feeling.

"I can always quit, if that is what you want. And it is none of your business anyway. I'm going to give it a try, no matter what you think about it."

"So you quit for this ridiculous plan but not when it would have saved our relationship." Although he was mainly angry she didn't miss the hurt touch of his voice. She was about to protest, when she remembered that he didn't know about her mother finding her another job.

"It's not the same." She therefore answered quietly. She looked down at her hand hoping that he would just get over it.

"Apparently not, it seems to be dang easy to ditch your job for a girl you've only known for a week." She could feel him staring at her, but she didn't look up again. It would be so easy to put an end to all of this, but she simply couldn't. When she didn't speak up again, she heard his frustrated sigh as he walked to the door and left. She leaned back staring at the ceiling, trying to fight her tears. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop loving him and that made every conversation, and especially their fights, even more painful. She just wished she could get over her pride and simply tell him, but it felt like it was too late now. _"You are not supposed to let the 'one' go."_ JJ's words rang in her ears and the first tear traveled down her cheek.


	4. Quitting

Thank you for following this part of my story. This is the ending of my exit for Paget when it comes to the team. But the story will still continue as this is not the best happy ending yet at least not when it comes to Demily. :)

Quitting

"Are you sure?" Hotch held his pen above the paper, glancing up to his agent. He could read in her face that she had made up her mind and was not about to step back from it. The week she had spent in the hospital had been enough to get the main paperwork done to stay Èanna's foster mom for the time being and so she had been able to take the little girl home with her.

"Yes sir, as sure as I was that I wanted to be in your team six years ago."

Her boss smiled slightly as he remembered her stubbornness trying to make him take her into the team, of course, at that point, for different reasons than today, but no less convinced about it. He set the pen on the paper signing the last open field. When he looked up again he saw a smile spreading across her face.

"We are going to miss you here."

"I'm not that far away." She noted, since she would still come to the same building for work, but with a settled working schedule. "But thank you."

"Declan and Èanna are lucky to have you." He stood up and walked around his desk to hand her the forms back. She smiled back at him, glad that he didn't make much of a mess out of her transfer. Now that the paperwork was done, she only needed to find the guts to tell her team. At least she wasn't dead this time, but Hotch and JJ again were her partners in crime and the others wouldn't like it.

"I've arranged so you're no longer on call. You get transferred next Monday; your new department really needs someone to fill that position." He couldn't hide the sarcasm in his voice as it was now his turn to fill an open position in his team.

"You could ask Ashley Seaver to come back." Emily responded, reading his mind. Although she regretted that thought the moment it left her lips. After all Spencer and Ashley seemed to grow closer and working in the same team would make things more complicated than they had to be.

"Maybe, experience shows I'm not the one making the final decisions. That's how we got you." He smiled at her as he again realized that there was not a lot he could hide from his team. "Do you want me to tell the team?"

She shook her head. "That didn't go to well last time, remember?" She grimaced at the memory of her faked death. "It's better if I do it." He nodded, opening his door for her.

"You are always welcome here."

"I know." She smiled, heading down the hallway.

By the time she reached her desk everyone was looking at her. Garcia, who had been joking with JJ a minute before, started paling as she noticed the stack of official looking paperwork in her friend's hand. Reid and Rossi had stopped their discussion over a book. Derek wasn't around and she was glad about it as they hadn't spoken to each other since their fight in the hospital.

She looked at her friends, suddenly not sure how to start. Their expressions told her that they already knew, just waiting for her to confirm it.

"I'll be just one floor down. You can always visit." She said as Pen's eyes were filling with tears. "Please, don't make this harder than it is." The flamboyant blonde shook her head, coming towards her and pulling her into a careful hug, trying not to hurt the arm in the sling.

"I know. Declan and Annie need you and you better still come to our ladies nights and have me spoil that precious little girl. I still don't get how the chronic single got ahead on the kids count." Garcia couldn't help herself but sob. The departing agent laughed at her dry humor, returning the hug.

"It takes talent." She winked at her friend. "And well I'm the one on a steady schedule now, so I think I'll be the one being canceled on all the time." Emily softly wiped her friend's tears away, before heading towards Reid, who seemed to have a hard time smiling.

"And you better keep coming over to give my boy chess lessons."

"He is getting good." She didn't miss the hint of pride in his voice and smiled.

"See that's why I need you to come over. He is winning against me."

"I doubt that." He smiled back.

"And Rossi," she turned to face the oldest team member: "If you ever feel like giving me cooking lessons, you are more than welcome. I need to feed a family now and I'm afraid they will get tired of chicken nuggets soon."

"I'll see what I can do." That answer actually surprised all of them, as he usually didn't like to share his cooking knowledge. "What? I can't have those two adorable children starve." He shrugged, leaving the team grinning.

Emily smirked before turning to the last team member, who had again gotten some fair warning to the change. It surprised her even more to see tears in her friend's eyes.

"Jay, if you ever need a babysitter let me know. I have a feeling I'm going to have a lot of kids' loaded free time from now on." She smiled at the blonde, before pulling her into a hug. "And please stop the crying."

"I can't help it." A sob followed the statement.

None of them noticed Derek who stood in the door of his office watching the scene. He was sure he knew what had happened and was happy for Emily, but he wouldn't go over there hugging her. She seemed happy again and he wasn't going to destroy that with his presence. Although she tried her best to hide it, he had never missed the pain in her eyes, when they had been sent into the field together. He watched as the situation became less tense and the group went back to joking. At least this time, they hadn't lost her. The only one who had lost her was him.


End file.
